Archive for the ‘Morris Minor’ tag

You don’t often hear the words “obsessively correct restoration” and Morris Minor in the same sentence. But not every Morris Minor is quite like the lilac-hued Million, a commemorative edition sold in very limited quantities to mark Britain’s first car to clear the seven-figure production barrier.

Though it took three decades and some six owners between its “discovery” and arriving in this condition, this 1961 Morris Minor 1000000 will be offered this Friday, January 16 by RM Auctions in Scottsdale. One of just 21 originally earmarked for the North American market, and bearing the serial number 1000001, the Morris was recently restored by Dave Adams, owner of Lake Oswego Restoration of West Linn, Oregon.

The Morris Minor 1000000 holds the distinction of being the only special edition Minor of any sort. They were all painted in the same shade of lilac and they all featured an interior of white leather seats with black piping, special treatments for a car that was essentially the Model T of Great Britain, the car that got the U.K. back on its feet following World War II. From 1948 through 1971, Morris (later part of BMC and then, ultimately, British Leyland) produced nearly 1.4 million Minors.

Other than the color and the leather interior, the Million models, of which 350 were made—one official millionth and 349 replicas—were otherwise standard Minor 1000s with the 948-cc engines—making somewhere around 38 hp—attached to smooth-case four-speed gearboxes. The car made quite the splash, and the British Motor Corporation milked the publicity for every ounce it could, going so far as to give the actual millionth car to the journalists union in the U.K. to spread the word. With very few making it to the United States—that run of 21 was shared with Canada—spotting one in the wild, even back in the day, was a rarity. So, restoring one to all of its lilac glory may catch the uninitiated off guard.

Dave, who first restored a Morris Minor in the early Eighties for his then girlfriend and now wife (they still have the car, too!), has only owned the car for a couple of years, during which time he turned a forlorn, rattle-can flat-black Morris into the lavender beauty RM will roll across the block in a couple of days.

“I sort of felt obligated to make this car as absolutely correct as possible,” says Dave. “Morris people, like Mini Cooper people, tend to make every crazy modification that strikes them. Given the historical significance of this car, I thought it was pretty important. I think I did an obsessively correct restoration on it.”

For a car that almost ended up in the scrap heap, Million #1000001 has quite a story behind it. Just before Dave embarked on that first Morris restoration, he joined the Morris Minor club, then run by its co-founders, Rick Feibusch and John Voelcker, the latter of the pair also the club’s registrar. Rick, along with his friend, Jeff Davis, got a tip on a Minor around 1980, when the duo was living in San Francisco. The deal was that they could have the old beat-up Minor if they pulled the engine out for the owner, since the original 948-cc engine had been swapped for a hot 1,275 unit he had other plans for.

“He came to greet us—and I’m not joking—he was dressed like a pirate,” recalls Rick, “with one of those frilly, blousy shirts and he had a pearl-handled revolver in his belt. Not a holster—just kind of in his pants. With his hair and everything, he looked like a bloody pirate! He was a real nice guy—a character. He showed us around his shop and the various art projects he was working on.

“He showed us this Morris. It was painted flat black with red wrinkle finish—the whole interior and engine compartment was covered in thick, wrinkle finish. It was rough. Apparently some kids had gotten in the warehouse and were using the roof for a trampoline. So, it had dozens of dents in the roof.”

Unimpressed, Rick and his friend were set to leave it when they both saw something special. “It was barely a parts car,” says Rick. “Jeff and I decided to pass on it. There just wasn’t enough car there. As we were walking away from the car, we both looked back and noticed at the same time that there was a big, lavender oval where one of the taillights had been. We looked at each other and said, ‘Naaaahhh. It can’t be?!’

“But, I had never seen another lavender Morris Minor. No one would paint a car that color, except for the factory. So, we walked back to the car and very quietly—the hood was off of it. There were no ID plates on the car—they were all gone. But I knew where the number was under the wiring harness on the firewall. We took a screwdriver and scratched the red wrinkle finish off of it. And I told Jeff, ‘Start writing these numbers down…One…Zero…Zero… Zero…” By this time, we were jumping up and down because we knew we had a Million car. We thought maybe it was the Million, but the last number was one, so we had 1000001.”

Maybe not the millionth Minor, but a damn close second place. Curiously, Minor 1000001 was built a couple of weeks before the actual millionth car in December of 1960. The first two cars were sent to North America, left-hand-drive models destined for the car show circuit. There is some speculation that 1000001 may, indeed, have been on display at the New York Auto Show in 1961, though there is no hard proof.

After Rick and Jeff pulled the engine, as agreed, they couldn’t decide what to do with the car. Neither had the resources to appropriately restore the car, though with the help of John, they were able to acquire the correct “1000000″ badges for the flanks and tail. They also installed a correct date-coded 948-cc engine and four-speed transmission, though the car never ran with that drivetrain. After a couple of years, they managed to trade the car for a pair of rebuilt transmissions for other projects they had.

From that time in the early 1980s, the car began a journey all over the West Coast, from a couple of owners in the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego and then back up north when Paul Asgeirsson moved from San Diego to Portland, Oregon, with the car. Like all of the previous owners, Paul had every intention of giving the car its due and restoring it, but after he passed away a few years ago, Dave acquired the car from Paul’s estate. In the hands of a professional restorer with Morris experience, 1000001 was finally where it needed to be.

In the ensuing years between Rick’s discovery and Dave’s ownership, the various “1000000″ badges had gone missing, likely sold off, parts picked clean to pay for some other project. Still, Dave was able to source those unique pieces, the correct leather and piping and find the right match for the paint.

Although few would choose such a color for a car—and plenty of Dave’s friends and colleagues in the business thought he was nuts—lilac indeed proves a disarming color, particularly when attached to the smiling face of a Morris Minor.

“I’ve never shown a vehicle that was more fun,” exclaims Dave. “I’ve restored and showed a lot of fancy European sports cars. Maybe they’re not quite as accessible, so maybe people aren’t inclined to come up and chat. This car has been a blast to show, because people love it. Both genders, but gals just totally flip out on this car.

“People think E-types are chick magnets, but I am here to tell you, a Morris Million is the car!”

To read more details about the long path to restoration for Minor 1000001, click here.

UPDATE (17.January 2015): The Morris Minor sold for a hammer price of $27,500.

UPDATE (10.February 2015): A similar Morris Minor, claimed to be the 1,000,000th car built (but constructed three weeks after car 1,000,001, above) appears to be going up for auction again at the Historics at Brooklands auction in March with a pre-auction estimate of £22,000 to £26,000, or about $33,000 to $40,000.

Or so goes the opinion of Martin Wainwright, an author who has written about the Morris Minor, the cheery little British car that sold more than a million copies, the vast majority of them in the United Kingdom. There’s certainly no shortage of enthusiasm for the the dead-simple and stone-cheap economy car over there, as we can see fromMorris – A Minor Documentary, recently released by MGL Media. Could they have dominated the market over here the way the Volkswagen Beetle did?

Also, note the Morris Minor Owners Club’s treatment of their younger members, on particular display in this documentary, a good way to encourage the growth and continuation of the hobby.

It’s obvious the seller of this 1958 Morris Minor 1000 on Hemmings.com has thought quite a bit about either restoring or restomodding the car, which remains in decent condition despite the wear and tear of 50-plus years. Props to the seller, though, for deciding to leave well enough alone and thus let the car’s next owner choose what to do with it. From the seller’s description:

Quite a nice original example… excellent body, floors, sills, chassis, etc. 38,000 original miles. Poked around underneath (on a lift) and couldn’t find any holes of soft spots. Covered with surface rust (easily removed with a wire brush) but no perforation.

Excellent 948cc BMC engine, 125-130psi compression in every cylinder, no smoke, oil pressure light goes off instantly (and stays off when running), nice gearbox and clutch, brakes work well, everything works electrically (including the new trafficators… certainly the most amusing aspect of this car), quiet exhaust, shocks passed the ‘bounce test,’ new battery, runs and drives very nicely.

Seats are worn… at the moment, covers are installed. We have a new carpet set and new headliner… will be installed when we get around to it. However, original door panels and dashboard are very nice.

As is the chrome and trim, trunk compartment (with original jack and tools), starts instantly, runs flawlessly, and seats four!

Paint is presentable….looks better now buffed and waxed.. Mixed feelings about a repaint… will it really improve the car? Certainly it would increase the cost. Hence… available ‘as is,’ a repaint is an available ‘extra.’

A fairly sophisticated car for its day in the ‘economy’ department. Torsion bar front suspension, rack and pinion steering, OHV engine, and very lightweight (factory listed is around 1,700 pound curb weight). Of course, the logical improvement is looking for and finding a rusty MG Midget or AH Sprite… and pull its 1,100cc or 1,275cc engine and rib case gearbox. Upping the power from 37 to 55 or even 65. Big difference in potential performance.

And…the heater works very well. Been finding this car to be thoroughly enjoyable, out to lunch, ’round town errands, blasting down the highway at 60+ mph!

The spotlight was on Jaguar E-types and the Austin-Healey Sprite/MG Midget twins, but it was a Mercedes-Benz that put an exclamation point on this year’s Euro Auto Festival this past weekend. A 1955 300SL Coupe, owned by Mark and Sheila Richey of Commerce, Georgia, took the People’s Choice award at the show, held on the grounds of the BMW Zentrum in Greer, South Carolina.

The Euro Auto Festival is an unjudged show, with awards determined by the votes of the entrants. “I was surprised [by the People's Choice award], because there were a lot of really nice cars there,” Mark said. The SL also won but Best Fit & Finish among all entries, and Crowd Pleaser among the Mercedes-Benzes.

Mark had been longing for a Gullwing for 40 years when he bought this car about a year ago, selling the 300SL Roadster he had owned for a decade in the process. It was the just the tenth Gullwing produced – production would total 1,400 – and Mark pointed out that there are several differences between his car and later cars. Among those are the use of all-steel wheels from a 300S “Adenauer” sedan, rather than steel-and-magnesium wheels; a “gooseneck” shift lever; a radiator from a W194 300SL racer, the road car’s predecessor; Bendix brakes, rather than Ate; a special one-piece, concave grille; and the lack of a cover for the fuel pump.

Mark has been trying to learn more about his car’s history, and so far has had no luck. “I would imagine somebody important or famous had it, being so early,” he said. He noted that car number three went to Briggs Cunningham. Mark is intrigued by a photograph of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dominican diplomat and jet-setter Porfirio Rubirosa sitting in a Gullwing; it was taken in October 1954, by which time only 17 or 18 Gullwings had been delivered. It’s believed that Gabor owned a 300SL; could it have been this one?

Organizers had been set themselves an ambitious goal of getting an even 50 E-types on the lawn to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary, and although we don’t have an exact count, we know there were more than 40 present. Chosen as the best of them was this gorgeous 1961 example, owned by James Strickland of Marietta, Georgia.

It was the sixth left-hand-drive E-type production car to leave the factory, and is the second-oldest such car known to exist. Finished in Opalescent Bronze with a special-order Suede Green interior, it was the West Coast dealers’ 1961 show car. According to James, Frank Sinatra left in a huff when the dealer refused to sell him the car, as it was the West Coast dealers’ only demonstrator. Recently restored by Mark Lovello at Jaguar South, the car was judged first in its class at the Fairfield County Concours, and also received a special award as the oldest E-type on the showfield.

We’d never forgive ourselves if we didn’t mention Zach and Libby Merrill’s wonderful 1955 Morris Minor Traveller. There’s very little on the exterior, other than the “Twin-Cam” badges on the hood and the widened MGB wheels, to tip you off about the long list of modifications that have been made. Here’s a partial list: A Toyota 4AGE 1.6-liter twin-cam four; a Toyota T-51 five-speed gearbox; a Toyota 7.5-inch differential; four-wheel disc brakes with vacuum assist from a Toyota Corolla GTS; air conditioning; cruise control; an AM-FM CD player; high-pressure KYB gas shocks all around. Most impressively, there wasn’t a badge that wouldn’t have belonged on the car. The engine and other mechanical components wear Morris and Speedwell badging, while the modern electrical components have convincing Lucas badges.

“Hopefully, this car appears to be a well-restored Twin-Cam ‘Works’ version as might have been crafted in BMC’s in-house ‘Special Tuning’ shop… although British Motor Corporation never actually did such a thing with their 1955 Traveller,” a placard on the car explained. The other entrants got it: the Minor won Crowd Pleaser in the Mini class.

My request for old car photos from family albums continues to harvest great scenes of American life from throughout the past several decades. The latest batch comes from a variety of sources, starting with David Gofstein of Bridgeport, Connecticut, whose mother’s tootsies help frame the above shot

of my moderately eccentric father’s Morris Minor ragtop (he replaced the Morris eventually with a Fiat 1100D, but that’s a whole new story). I can still smell wood, and musty leather from riding in that Morris! My uncles Valiant is parked behind it.

And finally from David, the 1966 Rambler Classic 770 wagon Phyllis bought from Papa’s in New Britain, Connecticut.

Anthony O’Neill dug out this shot of

my Uncle Tony and my Grandfather’s 1962 Pontiac Laurentian, the Canadian Model. I loved that car and it’s vinyl red interior. Pretty snazzy. I’m not sure when the shot was taken, but it was before I was born in 1967. The photo was taken at my grandparents house in Toronto, Ontario. My family lived in the basement of my grandparent’s house. The car is long gone sadly. If I remember right, I think the Pontiac had a six cylinder in it. I remember sitting on my Grandpa’s lap while he let me steer the car.

Probably my favorite picture of all time. My son (roughly one and half at the time I think) pretending to driving my old Triumph Spitfire. Great car with great memories. I used to take him for rides all over the place in it – bulky child seat and all. A gust of wind came up just at the right moment to give the impression of speed. Sadly I sold the car but never should have – still my favorite to this day.

As you visit your families these holidays, keep an eye out for vintage car photos in the family albums – we’d love to see what individual automotive histories belong to each and every one of you. Special bonus points to anybody who uploads old Super 8 film featuring the family’s cars.

* I don’t want to make this a regular feature of the Saturday Four-Links, but this is the third week in a row we’ve come across a stolen car while putting the Four-Links together. In this case, it’s a 1987 CitroÃ«n 2CV, taken late last month from Rossendale, Lancashire, UK. There is a reward.

* Even though our cash for clunkers program is over, Britain’s appears to still be going on, and one of the cars turned in was this 1958 Morris Minor (Britain’s program had no upper age limit for clunkers). The good news: It won’t be scrapped. The Hyundai dealership that took it in and the scrapyard that was authorized to crush it both decided it shouldn’t be destroyed. The bad news: Britain’s c4c legislation prevents it from being sold abroad or put back on the road, so it’ll become a museum doorstop, should some museum swoop in and save it. Still better than the alternative.

Earlier this week, we all hurried out of the office to head over to Colonie, New York, for a summertime tradition – the Guptill’s cruise night. I hadn’t gone since 2004 or 2005, but not much has changed: It still draws large amounts of cars, upwards of 1,000, people still throng the lines for ice cream and they still have a cheesy Elvis impersonator “entertaining” the crowds.

We saw plenty of old friends, but we also saw plenty of cars that have never made the trek to Bennington for our cruise-ins. For example, the above Morris Minor, which looked rather freshly restored on the outside.

Yet under the hood, it featured a bechromed GM V-6 – a 4.3-liter, I believe. Had the hood been down, nothing would’ve given away the engine swap.

The small theme continued with this pair of mini-choppers, with not a clue to their identity. They seemed recent builds off of the same frame and components, just with a few alterations to create two distinct breeds of choppah. No word if Bobber Bob Decker had a hand in these.

UPDATE (12.June 2008): It appears our first two commenters below were correct. The bikes are Kikker 5150s with either a 49cc (no m/c license needed) or 110cc engine. Thanks, Drew and Keith!

On the other end of the field sat this 1948 Crosley station wagon, with a bunch of bystanders deliberating just how rare Crosleys were. It makes me wish I were headed out to the Crosley Nationals this year.

Dig the homemade hoodlatches and rollhoop on this 1963 Austin-Healey Sprite. Perhaps I should buy one of these for Heather.

And a dashing little Mini that we occasionally see at Hemmings. Just imagine an American in which everybody drove something of this size.

Guptill’s has no car corral area, per se, though one could criticize that the whole show is a car corral, judging from the number of For Sale signs scattered throughout. The sign on this 1964 Studebaker Lark Daytona R1 convertible drew me in, but the $21,500 price tag forced me to pass.

And finally, parked out on the corner of the lot, was this cherry 1983 Jeep J-10, a rather uncommon sight in rust-free form in this neck of the woods. If only it had a For Sale sign in the windshield…

And I didn’t send a card! Yesterday marked the 46th anniversary of the last DeSoto, and CR4, an engineering blog, has the details. As far as anniversaries go, today marks the 56th anniversary of Chevrolet’s 25 millionth vehicle, the 81st anniversary of the General Motors purchase of Vauxhall and the 93rd anniversary of Ford’s continuous assembly line.

Auto Shows seem rather prous of their history, but only showcase it in little blips at a time. Winding Road found some materials as part of the L.A. Auto Show celebrating its centennial this year, including a map of the 1929 auto show. Why in the world was Ford so small? Hupmobile had the same size presence that year, according to the map.